Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said he expects we will all see a slowdown in the number of data centres being established. Could he put some figures on that? The figure of 11% is a lot. I do not hear anyone saying it is any more than 11% but I hear people saying it is currently at 11%. That is where we are sort of starting from today. It is only going in one direction. It is only going up so 11% of the grid is already fairly significant. I do not think that needs to be overblown by anybody. It stands alone as a high figure. The Minister has acknowledged that it is going to increase. Can he put a figure on what he predicts will be something of an inevitable slowdown either in Dublin or across the State? Does he have it either in his head or as part of his climate policy that when the figure gets to, we will say 11%, that is very high? Will he stop at 15% or is it 20%? At what point does he make the decision that our electricity supply is being put at risk by the establishment of data centres, which, as we all know, may drive a certain element of industry but does not create employment? We are talking about tiny numbers of people being employed in them. What is the cut-off in the Minister's head or according to the Department in this regard? Where does it stop?